Making Hakka Lei Cha 擂茶

擂茶 Hakka tea in Mei３Nong1 美濃

Just northeast of Kaohsiung city is a wonderful Hakka village named MeiNong.
The village is well-known for its paper umbrellas and Hakka culture museum.
Unfortunately, we didn't get there in time to go the museum, but we did have
the opportunity to make some Hakka style tea called Lei1Cha1 擂茶 at a restaurant
in MeiNong. The restaurant's food smelled
delicious, but we only drank tea. Here's what you do:

Step 1: You are brought the ingredients. In the big bowl are
crispy popped rice, white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, and dried tea
leaves. On the plate are peanuts, pinenuts, and green sunflower (?) seeds.
Farthest to the the right is the powder--a soybean based powder that we will use
later. On the bottom right is a plate of cookies to nibble on while you drink
your tea.

Step 2: Using a mortar and a pestle made from a guava tree, grind
the rice, sesame seeds and tea leaves to a powder. After that, add the nuts and
seeds, and grind those into a powder, too. Use those
muscles!

Step 3: As you are grinding, you can use a brush to sweep the
powder out of the mortar.

Step 4: Keep a big pot of boiling water handy... [note the
traditional Chinese tables and benches in the background. Also the traditional
blue and red Hakka clothing.]

Step 5: Put a spoonful of the stuff you ground up and a spoonful of
the soybean powder (more if you want a stronger flavor) in your cup. Add hot
water and stir. Enjoy.

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Taiwanese FoodThis gallery is gaining a life of its own. Check out the good eats!

4 月 2010

So, this seems kind of crazy, but hey we all love to eat, right? In Taiwan, it's considered a hobby. When you go on a trip, you need to stop at such and such town for their great ______. Noodles, shrimp rolls, chicken thighs, soup, whatever. Everyplace seems famous for some addition to the Taiwanese culinary tradition.
So here I am attempting to document some of the traditions of eating, the places to go, and the food itself. This will be a difficult and slow moving project, because I feel really strange photographing food in the presence of other diners, especially when I have to stand on a chair to get it all in.